The 1st Essex Junior Grand Prix of 2017/18 was held at the Moulsham Junior School, Chelmsford and attracted 94 entrants – an increase of five from last year. We welcomed many strong players from outside of Essex who were no doubt keen on qualification for the London Junior Chess Championships. They were all good competition for the improving Essex pool of players.
The British Chess Championships is now underway and it is great to see many Essex Juniors taking part in the various events. Daniel Gallagher and Elliot Cocks are playing in the Championship and in the first round Daniel is paired against GM Nick Pert. The best way to keep up to date with their progress is via the "Essex at the British" section of the excellent Essex Chess Association website http://www.essexchess.org.uk/index.php/activities/mm-eatb17
The Under 14 Team played Sussex in the Final of the SCCU tournament on 13 May at the Kings Road Primary School in Chelmsford.
We had only played one qualifying match plus a friendly match in 2016/17 but our team was certainly very keen to do well in the final and it was pleasing to be able to field a strong team.
The fourth Essex Grand Prix event was held at St Benedict’s College, Colchester on 29 April 2017 with 71 players spread over the usual under 18 Open and Minor, under 11 and under 9 sections. There were a good proportion of the prizes won by girls this time including three of the four first prizes and both under 18 events were by under 11 players!
On Sunday 26 March we fielded a team of six plus two reserves in the under 14 Minor section of the SCCU Jamboree event at Orleans School, Twickenham home of the Richmond Junior Chess Club. This section of the event proved to be closely contested with seven teams competing for the prizes. Although our scores could have been better in the first two rounds all the team showed plenty of character and enthusiasm to score an excellent 5.5 from 6 in the final round!
